Holding Out For Football Dreams

It finally happened. It was too late and too small a group for anyone in the NFL to care about, but here it was anyway: evidence of a passion for professional football on display at the Coliseum.

It was beating in the hearts of the 200 men who came to open tryouts Saturday for the Avengers, L.A.’s Arena Football League expansion team.

This really wasn’t about the Avengers. Coach Stan Brock said he probably would invite only three or four of these players to training camp. This was a statement about the love of the game, about the guys who won’t make the team, but keep on trying.

Not all of them had an “NFL determined” tattoo on their biceps muscle, as one man did, but they all had that look in there eye.

There were finely tuned athletes and some, uh, a bit out of tune. There were teachers and wanna-be actors. Warehouse workers. Even a guy who works at the Team L.A. store at Staples Center and decided to come out after meeting the Avengers’ coach and public relations director one day.

There was virtually no promise of glory, fame or riches. They would have a better shot at those rewards by grabbing an almanac and trying out for “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”

Only a smattering of friends, family and agents in the Coliseum stands. Even the most realistic best-case scenario would only result in a spot on the team and contract worth about $20,000 a year.

Get that spot, catch a couple of breaks and then try to catch a miracle. “I’m trying to do that Kurt Warner thing,” Tyrone Barnes said.

Now that there’s been a first, everyone wants to be the next. Everyone wants to follow the path of Warner, who went from tossing touchdowns for the Arena League’s Iowa Barnstormers two years ago to leading the St. Louis Rams to the NFC West Division title this year.

For some, the reward is simply in the effort.

“I guess it’s a man thing,” said Ahman Hicks, who played at Santa Fe High in Santa Fe Springs and has spent two seasons with semi-pro teams. “The competition, wanting to be better than the next person, pitting yourself against athletes of your caliber.”

Hicks, who works for a shipping company, had the words “Ikaika Hookalakupua” (Hawaiian for supernatural inner strength, he said) tattooed on his right arm. They framed a football helmet.

“Football’s always been a major part of my life,” Hicks said. “I loved it so much, I gotta have a tribute to it.”

The players spent the morning being graded in the 40-yard dash, shuttle run, bench press and vertical leap. Selected players went through some individual skill drills in the afternoon. Those who had played at higher profile colleges still had the sweats and gym bags to prove it. UCLA. USC. Oklahoma State. Fresno State. Tulsa.

The two most recognizable names to Southern California fans were former UCLA kicker Chris Sailer and Perry Klein, the quarterback best known for hopping between three high schools and two colleges before he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 1994.

Sailer was in the San Francisco 49ers’ camp this summer, but was released in the preseason. He is taking classes at UCLA and will finish requirements for a communications degree next quarter--just in time for the start of the Arena season in April.

Klein hasn’t played football in two years, but is willing to give the Avengers a shot because he can still be close to his family and his job as an electronic components distributor.

That’s the main advantage to the Avengers: proximity.

“I’m glad something opened up in L.A.,” said Aman Abye, a high school teacher in Pasadena.

He has tried out for Arena league teams in New Jersey, Grand Rapids and Portland.

“It got to be a pain in the neck traveling--not to mention expensive,” Abye said.

He played at the University of Pennsylvania, graduated in 1997, and never attracted enough attention during group tryouts for the Philadelphia Eagles and other NFL teams.

And yet he didn’t give up.

The sheer numbers say it probably won’t happen for these guys, not even on this one Arena League team. Brock plans to have 30 players in training camp in March. There already are 14 players on the Avenger roster, and there are more open tryouts to come (in San Diego next month and Las Vegas in February), plus the expansion draft Jan. 18.

Brock, a former NFL player, knows the reason they keep coming.

“They don’t want to let their dream die,” he said.

“You play Pop Warner, high school, college,” Abye said. “That’s 12 years of your life, right there. It’s hard to give it up. I feel like if I don’t try professional football, I’m doing myself an injustice.

“If it doesn’t work out, I’ve got a good job, a degree from a good school.

“At least I tried.”

J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com